1. Field of the Invention
Preferred embodiments relate to an incubator including a service port provided in a peripheral wall section of an infant accommodation space, a service door capable of opening and closing the service port by swinging to and fro, a base frame that is attached to the peripheral wall section in order to retain the service door so as to swing to and fro, and a latch mechanism that is capable of retaining the service door in a closed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is substantially described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2012-85908, incubators configured such as that described above are conventionally known. The incubator described in the above publication includes a service port provided in a peripheral wall section of an infant accommodation space of the incubator, a service door capable of opening and closing the service port by swinging to and fro, a base frame that is attached to the peripheral wall section in order to retain the service door so as to swing to and fro, and a latch mechanism that is capable of retaining the service door in a closed position. The latch mechanism includes a latch lever, which swings between a retaining position to perform the retaining and a release position to release the retaining, in the vicinity of the peripheral wall section of the infant accommodation space, and an operating lever that swings'the latch lever to the release position by swinging about an axial center that is the same as, or parallel to, an axial center of a support shaft of the latch lever. Thus, in this incubator, the service port can be easily opened by swinging the service door with using a region other than fingers (such as their elbow) of a user, while there is little concern of a change in the physical condition of an infant such as a newborn infant due to such an operation.
However, in the above-described incubator, an annular shaped packing made of silicone rubber is interposed between the base frame positioned in the vicinity of an outer periphery of the service port and the service door in order to substantially maintain airtightness between the vicinity of the outer periphery of the service port and the service door. Specifically, the annular shaped silicone rubber packing is attached to the base frame. Thus, the annular shaped silicone rubber packing needs to be detached from the base frame and cleaned by soaking in antiseptic when the annular shaped silicone rubber packing has been soiled by bodily fluid of the infant, for example, such that a lengthy soaking and sterilization operation needs to be performed. There is also a concern that the airtight function of the infant accommodation space of the incubator might be reduced, since the packing is not replaced by users in a hospital, for example, even when the annular shaped silicone rubber packing deteriorates over time. The silicone rubber packing has as an issue of the high cost of the packing.